Question

Which of these excerpts from "Once in a Lifetime" by Jhumpa Lahiri most clearly exemplifies diversity within socioeconomic status?
1. "It's a cigarette you smell," he said when he came back to bed. "Someone has been smoking in the bathroom."
"I didn't know Dr. Choudhuri smoked," my mother said.
"Should we have put out an ashtray?"

2. "First class!" my mother exclaimed, with an intake of breath. "How did you end up there?"
"It was my fortieth birthday gift," your mother explained.
She looked over at your father, smiling. "Once in a lifetime, right?"
"Who knows?" he said, clearly proud of the extravagance. "It could become a terrible habit."

3. "There's a stream back there," you said, "in those woods."
My mother became nervous then, warning you not to go there, as she had so often warned me, as I had warned you the night you came, but your parents did not share her concern. What had you photographed? They asked instead.

4. "Bombay is nothing like Calcutta," you added, as if reading my mind.
"Is it close to the Taj Mahal?"
"No." You looked at me carefully, as if fully registering my presence for the first time. "Haven"t you ever looked at a map?"

Answer 1

2: it makes more sence and has more  details better sentences aswell so i think its 2

Answer 2

Answer: 2. "First class!" my mother exclaimed, with an intake of breath. "How did you end up there?"

"It was my fortieth birthday gift," your mother explained.

She looked over at your father, smiling. "Once in a lifetime, right?"

"Who knows?" he said, clearly proud of the extravagance. "It could become a terrible habit."

Explanation: Hema's parents are in shock at Kaushik's more expensive lifestyle which contrasts to their own more modest lifestyle, which further shows the socio-cultural gap in between the families as well. In the story, the upper-class style of spending was considered a western influence.